Bending The Truth
by Tiptaps
Summary: You were a risk. A giant risk. You reminded me why I didn't take risks. You flipped my whole world upside down...and the scary thing? I liked it.[Tykka]
1. In which Sokka goes to Plan B

Bending the Truth

_You were a risk. A giant risk. You reminded me why I didn't take risks. You flipped my whole world upside down... and the scary thing ? I liked it. _

D_i_scla_i_mer  No, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender...I do however own my fantabulous _sunflower cup_!

Chapter One : In which Sokka goes to Plan B.

Sokka 's eyes peered dully through the dank enterior of one of the Earth Kingdoms seediest pubs. The air was filled with rancid smelling smoke and the scent of stale alchohal. Outside it was gray and depressing, the sky had been drizzling off and on all day. Sokka brought his gaze back inside, eyeing his half empty glass. The ice melting in his glass chinked loosely together as Sokka rattled it to get the bartenders attention. An old man in a dirty white apron clomped his way over to Sokka and sloshed the rank smelling liquid over his ice, then moved away to his next patron. Instead of gulping his drink down like he had the last three, Sokka amused himself with tracing patterns through the condensation on his glass. Sokka knew that if he could cry anymore he would. But it seemed like his tear ducts had, had enough of crying thank goodness. His eyes were still rimmed red from all his crying and that didn't do anything for his ego or manly good looks.. Tilting his head back Sokka looked blearily at the rotten boards that composed the ceiling of the 'Drunken Badger' as his memories assailed him.

_"I'm sorry Sokka, it just won't work." _ That's what Suki had said to him a week ago.

Four years ago after the war had ended, Katara, Toph, Aang and he had been travelling around settling disputes on the borders and helping rebuild towns, when they ran into the Kyoshi warriors again. It only seemed natural that they should split up the group and help settle the skirmishes faster. Naturally Sokka, went with Suki and her warriors. They took the eastern border of the Earth Kingdom between the Firenation while Katara, Aang, and Toph went to help rebuild Ba Sing Se and Omashu. One month from now would be the fifth year anniversary of the end of the war. That would've been the time that Sokka would've proposed to Suki. But, as his luck would have it, when he talked to Suki last week about her opinions on settling down and family, it had become clear that Suki's only interest at that time was her warrior duties. Sokka of course being Sokka had pushed the issue, which had lead into a big fight.

Now, a week later, Sokka found himself at the port of Kuson - a tiny village on the border between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation - while the Kyoshi warriors moved on toward Ba Sing Se for the Fifth Anniversary Festival. Suki had offered that he could still travel with her and the girls until reaching Ba Sing Se where they would go their seperate ways. Sokka decided that it was best to just stay here for a while.

He regretted bringing up that conversation, if only he had waited. He could've been with Suki and the girls right now instead of some dingy pub. He could've been planning his proposal speech. They could've worked things out afterwards. Sokka knew he could still run after her if he wanted to. But because of his pride, he remained at Kuson licking his wounds. He was pretty sure that was why Suki hadn't turned around for him either. He knew it would take a miracle to patch up their relationship now. The watertribe warrior groaned and banged his head onto the unsanitary bar. It hurt. After another groan and another hit to the head by means of the bar, Sokka had decided that he worked himself up into a good melancholy. He felt that now he was about ready for his stiff drink. The ice clinked in his glass again as he drank it all in one gulp. Sokka's tear ducts jumped into action making his eyes water as the liquid seared down his throat. Yep. They still worked. Damn it.

Outside the sky decided to drizzle again, making muddy puddles here and there. Sokka pushed back the bar stool he was perched on, tossed the proper amount of money on the counter for his drinks and stumbled haphazardly toward the exit doors.

The rain pelted Sokka as he trudged through the puddles of mud toward the direction his inn was located. At least he thought this was the direction it was located. A cool breeze flitted around Sokka's body pushing him back upright when he tripped over a clump of mud that didn't seem to be there before. Sokka stopped in the middle of the street and knit his brows together.

Now what was off about what just happened? Before he could contemplate the matter any further, a loud feminine voice rang out from behind him.

"You _reek_ Snoozles! What have you been doing? Bathing in rum!?

Sokka whippped around to see three grinning Avatars and two irritated looking Tophs. The Aangs scratched the back of their heads sheepishly. "She's just upset because you went bar hopping without her."

The druken warrior gave them a lopsided grin and a un-warriorlike hiccup. "When dids you get here guys"? he slurred out happily. Sokka scanned the group of Aangs and Tophs. There seemed to be a person missing. "Where's Katars-Kartas...Where's my sister?" Sokka said finally.

The Tophs spoke up this time. "We left Sweetness at your Inn. She didn't want to accompany us to the bar, she's got a hoity-toity attitude about it.

Aang laughed nervously. " It's only because she can't handle her liquor and her bending gets her in alot of trouble." The Avatar shot a meaningful look at Toph.

Toph gave the air nomad a dry look. "Yeah, considering that almost everything in a bar is made of liquid."

Sokka let out a dorky laugh and wobbled unsteadily. Toph let out a sigh. "Come on Ponytail, lets get you back to the Inn." The Aangs and the Tophs all came forward to grab an arm and turn him the opposite direction that he was headed.

How they all managed to latch on to him, Sokka never knew.

..-.:.-..

Katara looked at her brother in frustration as he lay sprawled across his bed -if you could call it that- and drukenly sang old watertribe love ballads. From the looks of his room, he hadn't attempted to wash his clothes in weeks. The mismatched socks in the corner were beginning to look particularly frightening.

Katara sat down on the edge of the bed and heaved her brother up to a sitting position. Beneath the druken stupidity that he was currently sporting, Katara could tell that her brother was hurting. Sokka's head lolled forward and hung limply as he mumbled something to himself. Katara pushed his head back up to its natural position. "What was that Sokka?"

Sokka cracked open his eyes a little. "I said I think that my drinks were soured. I don't feel so good." Before Katara could respond, Sokka took a running leap off the bed, at which point he tripped on his sheets, and made a bee-line to where the bathroom was. Katara winced at the wretching noises she heard coming from it. It was a good thing that she sent Aang and Toph away for food, the Earthbending master had problems with throw-up. It seemed she only had to hear the person throwing up to start throwing up herself. Katara didn't much feel like dealing with that...again.

After a little while Sokka came back into the room looking less drunk now that he had gotten it all out of his system. He sat heavily on the end of his bed and gave his sister a sheepish look. Katara shook her head at him and gave him a worried smile. "Sokka what happend? Why aren't you with Suki and the girls anymore?" The goofy look that her brother had on his face, slipped off as one of saddness came to the front.

"Did you see her?" Sokka asked.

Katara gave her brother a worried look. "Yeah, we finished up our last job earlier and decided to come and meet up with you and Suki for a few days. But when we saw her and the girls on the road, they said that you had decided to stay in the last town. When we asked why, Suki just told us to ask you. She seemed kinda miffed. What's going on Sokka?"

Sokka placed his head on his palms and ran his fingers through his wolf tail. "We just got in a fight and decided to go our separate ways is all...She's _still_ mad?"

"That's all you have to say? Katara snapped. A fight?! I bet it was your fault wasn't it!? Did you get all over protective again?"

"Slow down Katara! Sokka said, frustrated. We just had different views on relationships...Family... Marriage... I was going to ask her to marry me at the festival...Apparently, she cares more about her warrior duties than she does about settling down."

The changes in Katara's disposition occured immediately. "Oh, Sokka! I'm so sorry!" She sat down beside Sokka and gave him a comforting hug.

It was during that time that Aang,Toph, and Momo burst through the door laden with food and other various items that looked like a ping-pong paddle and huge oriental vase that Toph claimed was perfect for her and that she couldn't live without. The Beifong heiress who was holding the smaller packages deposited them neatly on the floor, while Aang waddled around trying to find a spot to accomodate Toph's life altering vase. How they would get it on Appa was something that Aang didn't look forward to finding out. He was sure that the only reason Toph bought it was to see how long Katara could put up with it before blowing her top.

Sokka who was watching the whole procession pushed off from the bed and staggered slightly over to where Toph had set down the food. The earthbending master was currently helping Twinkletoes decide where to put her vase. Her help consisted of "A little to the left. No. Your other left." Katara just continued preaching about how he should get out more, and to come and join them again.

Sokka just wanted a break. And food. Food would be nice, preferably meat. Katara chattered on, helping Sokka unpack the food as she went. Toph wandered over, bored of 'helping' Aang, and listened in on the one-sided conversation that Katara was having. Sokka bit off a piece of jerky as a muffled voice came from the back of the room.

"Uhhh Toph? Is this ok?" Aang panted.

Toph picked at the lettuce of her sandwhich. "A little to the right Aang."

Aang's head craned around from the left side of the vase. "Um. I don't thing it can go any more to the right."

The blind bandit now concerned herself with tearing the crust off of her bread and giving them to Momo. "Your other right Aang."

Aang grunted and craned his head around the other side of the vase. "Toph! You aren't even paying attention!" Aang gave an indignant huff and lowered the huge vase painstakingly to the ground. Then went over to join everyone.

Sokka scuffed his boot on the packed dirt of his floor and tore off another bite of his jerky.

"Speaking of paying attention," Katara started, "I don't think that Sokka was either." Katara gave him the 'mother hen' look as Sokka liked to call it.

"Well Katara, when a man like me gets hungry, there's not much else going on up here." Sokka jabbed a finger at his head. "Men have a one-track mind. And in some cases a short attention span." Sokka eyed an unassuming Aang who was trading Toph a papaya for a mango.

Katara rolled her eyes and started eating on her sandwhich.

"So," Toph mumbled around a mouthful of papaya, "what exactly happened with you and Suki, Snoozels?" Aang perked up from teasing Momo with a slice of fruit and turned around to listen to the conversation.

Sokka just grunted and gave a muffled reply before he bit off another peice of jerky.

Katara sighed and put down her sandwhich as both Toph and Aang swivled their heads toward her. "Sokka and Suki broke it off because they couldn't see eye to eye on a couple of things. " She then proceeded in telling them the rest of what happened while Sokka tried to look like he didn't care. When she had finished, the watertribe warrior hated the sad looks he recieved from the group. Well mostly Aang and Katara. Toph just cleaned her teeth and told him that he was better off without her. Aang turned to Katara and agreed that Sokka should get out.

"Actually!" Aang said excitedly. "I have just the thing that will get your mind off Suki!" Sokka gave him a doubtful look. Aang held his his finger up to indicate that everyone should wait. He then proceeded to give himself a thorough pat down, stopping when he patted something crinckly in his pocket. The Avatar flashed everyone a triumphant smile and brandished a wrinkly looking piece of paper from out of his pocket.

"This here's the answer to all your problems Sokka!"

Sokka gave the paper a skeptical look. "Wow. My very own piece of paper."

Aang took a moment to unfold the peice of paper. A sketch of two entwined dragons with funny smiles was printed out on the paper. Up at the top a bold headline in red and gold writing read, "Come and visit the Dancing Dragons Circus!"

The Avatar continued on with his exicted chatter. "They'll even let us ride the Hog Monkeys! It'll be just the thing to put a little pep in your step Sokka!"

"I think I'll pass Aang." Sokka stated dryly.

"Come on Sokka, think about it." Katara pleaded. "We all need this, not just you. We can't just leave you here!"

Toph leaned over to Sokka and in a conspiratorial whisper added "I heard they have great food."

Sokka gave Toph a hopeful look. "Does that mean meat?"

"Only the best." Toph replied.

Sokka stretched and gave a yawn. "I'll give it a shot."

"That's great Snoozels, but we're not taking you anywhere until you get a bath. I'm serious. You reek." Toph wrinkled her nose.

Katara leaned forward toward Sokka "And she means that in the most _loving _way."

"Speak for yourself Sweetness." Toph drawled.

Aang scratched the back of his bald head and laughed sheepishly. "Well it does smell like you haven't had a bath in a long time, it wouldn't hurt anything." Aang shrugged.

"Ok I get it. I stink, and I need a bath." Sokka got up and made his way dejectedly to the bathroom.

"Hurry up and finish Sokka!" Aang yelled after him. "The sooner we get back from the circus the sooner we can think of a way to get Suki back for you!"

That statement hit the stinking warrior like a load of bricks and stopped him in his tracks. How come that thought hadn't occured to him yet? Well he knew why, he was to busy wallowing in self pity to actually think straight at the time. Slowly Sokka turned around to face the gang with an open mouth. All of them were grinning in his direction. The warrior looked like he was thinking about saying something, but then shut his mouth, and did an about face toward the bathroom. This was going to be the quickest bath of his life.

..-.:.-..

Sokka grumbled as he stood in line for the food vendor at the Dancing Dragon Circus. He had finally made it to the head of the line and was just about ready to order the whole menu. He definitely wanted to see what the big deal about 'popcorn' was. Upon entering the circus the first impression Sokka got was controlled chaos. How Aang could believe that this was relaxing for everyone was over his head.

They had all split up in different directions, Sokka toward the food section. Toph toward the extreme stunts, and Katara tagged along with Aang to keep an eye on him as he rode the Hog Monkeys. They were all supposed to meet up in the big tent for the main attractions in thirty minutes. Sokka now had ten minutes left to get there thanks to the long line. As the watertribe warrior gave his order to the vendor he tried to remember where the main attractions would be. Was it the Red tent or the Yellow tent?

Everything in this circus had a different color to make it easier to get to where you wanted. All you had to do was look for the color tent. There were green tents, blue tents, orange, pink, and various other colors. There was only one flaw in this spectrum of a circus. And that was remembering what color tent. Sokka pushed those thoughts away for more important ones. Like ideas on how he could get Suki back. He hadn't gotten very far. The farthest he'd gotten in his master plan was to join back up with Katara, Aang, and Toph and ride with them to Ba Sing Se for the Festival. He knew for sure that Kyoshi warriors would be there.

After collecting his mountain of food, Sokka then set to the problem of remembering the color tent. Using his specially honed instincts, Sokka decided to follow the majority of the crowd and see if it led to the main event. Five minutes later, the lost warrior departed from the bathroom area of the circus. It seemed that the majority crowd needed a toilet.

So he went with Plan B. Follow the loud cheering noises. A couple minutes later Sokka was at the entrance of a huge red tent. How in the world could he have missed the tent was beyond him. It was _enormous_. Sokka peered through his food to see if he could find the others. Thankfully they were easy to spot, due to Aang's signature orange.

Finally making his way to his seat, Sokka plopped down next to Aang only to be accosted by his baby sister about being late and have his drink stolen by Toph. He could tell it was going to take awhile getting used to this again.

The noises were deafening inside the huge red tent, and the smells were overwhelming. Thanks to Aang being the Avatar, all of their little group had gotten first rate seats. Toph had her feet securely on the ground and was 'seeing' all the activety going on behind the rear tent curtain. "Some one's fixing to come out." Toph notified everyone as she took a big gulp of Sokka's drink. Sure enough, someone put out half of the torches in the big top, dimming the enterior considerably. A hush fell over the crowd as the torches in the ring were lit one by one, and a loud fanfare of sungi horns announced the beginning of the show.

The red curtains were slowly pulled backwards as two pink and yellow costume dragons weaved into the center of the ring shaking their heads for effect every now and then. When they were finished with their display they turned their huge shaggy heads back toward the opening where they came out. The Ring Leader, a graying old man with a nicely trimmed beard, appeared a few moments later, riding on top of a huge full grown saber tooth moose lion. He spurred his ride to the middle of the ring where he took off his hat and waved to the crowd. The crowd errupted into cheers and applause, waiting to see what happen next. The Ring Leader put his hat back on top of his head and went into description of the amazing feats that they would soon witness tonight. When he was done, he bowed and spurred his ride into action and rode back the way he came with the two dragons.

After that the inside of the tent was a whirl-wind of activity. There were Giant Porcupine Boars that shot their quills into moving targets, Hopping Llamas which hopped through hoops, Trained Hog Monkey Riders, Dancing Platypus Bears, A Singing Gopher Choir, - which Toph and Aang whistled different notes to when the fluter wasn't looking much to his frustration- and Clowns with funny skits about how the Avatar and company saved the world. Sokka had a particularly good time watching this.

Aang's clown was portrayed as being an airbender by the use of a giant fan that he drug behind him, and Katara's clown had a blue mop like braid and carried around a bucket of water that she used for her "waterbending" which consited of tossing water on everyone and everything. Toph's clown was dressed all in green and stood in the background pelting the firenation clowns with dirt clods. Toph got a kick out of that. And last but not least Sokka's clown, which was dressed in blue and also had a blue mop for a ponytail, tripped over his own feet and threw his colorful boomerang around but often didn't catch it when it came back. Katara had a good laugh at his exspense for that one.

Sokka enjoyed himself thoroughly that was for sure, but he couldn't help his mind from wandering off and trying to think of plans for winning Suki back. Sokka leaned his head back against his seat, and wished that the show would end soon, so he could think clearly. As if his wish had been heard, a loud roar filled the entire tent as the Ring Leader rode back into the ring to announce the final act. Sokka positioned himself back up in his seat so he could watch better. The Ring Leader rode back out again as the lights were dimmed. You could practically feel the excitement thrumming through the crowd as the torches were lit again, not only around the ring, but fifty feet up in air.

Everybody's neck craned looking upward as a figure in pink stood illuminated on the edge of a platform and waved. A loud applause followed and died down when the pink acrobat made her first move. Taking a running leap, she flipped smoothly through the air and landed, balancing by her hands, on a vertical pole at the midpoint of the wires. From there she lifted herself into a one-handed handstand. She balanced precariously for a moment before she went into a full split. The crowd held it's breath as she bent supporting arm at her elbow and launched herself off the stake and neatly onto the wire. That earned a gasp from the anxious crowd. The girl in pink then carefully bent down and placed her hands on the wire, using her legs to raise her delicately onto her hands. She then walked herself hand over hand to the otherside of the platform. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. The acrobat in pink grinned widely and bowed before she flipped into the saftey net below.

While the other torches around the tent were being re-lit, the Ring Leader came out for his final words of closing on his unsual steed, "Give it up for our best acrobat Ty Lee!" Upon hearing her name the group turned to look at each other in surprise. The Ring Leader continued on with his closing speech. "Thank you all for coming, and don't forget to come and see us for the Big Festival in Ba Sing Se! What you have seen here, will be nothing in comparison to what we will do there!" The crowd roared again, as the Ring Leader made his dramatic exit.

All the torches were lit now, and the crowd began to make their way toward the exit flaps. Sokka looked around the rest of the group in astonishment. "What was _she_ doing here?!" Katara looked just about as disturbed as her brother. "Well, this _is_ close to the firenation border."

Aang airbended himself out of his seat excitedly. "Come on guys! Lets not worry about her! We still have to explore this whole circus!"

Toph got up after him and grabbed a fistful of the back of his orange shirt. "Hold on there Twinkles. I hate to put a damper on things, but have you forgotten just what Pinky did to us? She took away mine and Katara's bending, helped in getting you zapped, and not only took down the Kyoshi warriors but impersonated them!"

Aang sighed and loosened Tophs hand from the back of his shirt. "I haven't forgotten Toph. But the war has been over now for five years. I think it's time to move on and not hold a grudge."

Katara moved forward to stand by Toph. "He's right Toph, lets just let bygones be bygones, and enjoy ourselves before we get summoned off to duty again."

Toph let out an un-lady like huff, and dropped the issue. "Alright, lets go see you try to beat me at hog monkey riding Twinkles."

Katara grinned as she started off after Aang and Toph, who were now racing to the 'wild animal area' over in the orange part of the circus. She stopped when she realized that her older brother wasn't following. "Sokka? Are you coming?"

Sokka picked up his pace and quickly caught up with his little sister. Katara was saying something or other about Toph and Aang, when a cute giggle caught Sokka's attention.

He'd know that giggle anywhere. There, a few 10 paces in front of them were the performers from the circus signing their names on the Dancing Dragon's ad posters for all the fans.

Sokka stopped in his tracks as Katara walked on, oblivious.

He knew what he should do, of course. He should continue right on with Katara and watch as Toph and Aang get thrown from some wild Hog Monkeys.

But what he wanted to do. Now that was a different matter completely.

He wanted to see how the pink acrobat had changed over the years, and find out what had made her laugh. Why? Curiosity surely.

Throwing good, but commonly used sense to the wind, Sokka stealthily approached the group of circus performers. The last thing he wanted was for Ty lee to take notice of him.

Said acrobat was twisting into some unbelievable pose as a awkward looking young man from the crowd approached with a circus flyer. Ty lee grinned up at him un-abashedly as she coquettishly unfolded herself from her position and grasped the outstretched piece of paper. It appeared that she had gotten to be more confident and charming if that was at all possible. Her hair had grown longer, the brown braid swishing back and forth as she swayed from side to side. When Ty lee was done signing her name, she handed the flyer back with a wink. Even standing five feet away Sokka could've sworn he felt the young man's blush. It also seemed that the young man's girlfriend felt it to, because a few seconds later she was there dragging him back away from the pink acrobat. Ty lee looked on with a confused little smile as the angry girlfriend turned around to deliever a glare. Ty lee gave a wave to the couple then went back to signing more flyers.

Sokka moved from person to person as his mind contemplated the beginning of a plan. A risky plan...But if he played his cards right, a good one.

Another cute giggle drew Sokka's eyes back to Ty Lee's twisting form, as another young man approached her. Gracefully balancing on one leg, the pink contortionist flirtatiously signed another flyer.

So he had a month to win Suki back.

As Sokka's eyes met with Ty Lee's for the first time in five years he suddenly knew how.

---------------------------------

To Be Continued.

A/N

I'm back with another story! My first multi-chaptered fic! Heads up to all the readers, I do like to write loooong chapters. So if you aren't fond of long chapters...you're just going to have to deal with it. (:

Well, not much Sokka and Ty lee interaction at all, but at least the stage is set. (First chapters are so hard for me to write. lol ) There's definitely going to be some interaction between them in chapter 2 so yayness! Anyone care to take a guess at what Sokka's genius plan is?


	2. In which Sokka has no personal space

Bending The Truth

_You were a risk. A giant risk. You reminded me why I didn't take risks. You flipped my whole world upside down...and the scary part? I liked it._

* * *

D_i_scla_i_mer : No, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender...I do however own my _ginormous pink fluff_ pillow.

Chapter Two : In which Sokka's personal space is violated.

* * *

"Sokka you can't be serious! This has got to be the most idiotic plan you have ever come up with. I thought you hated the Firenation!" Sokka scratched his beard awkwardly as Katara screeched and paced agitatedly. "Aang, don't let Sokka do this."

Aang looked as if he was going to speak, but Sokka beat him to it. "I don't hate the Firenation...I just dislike them with a passion. Besides that, she's different! You said that we could come up with a plan and I did! Simple as that. You don't know Suki like I do, this will win her back more than anything!"

Katara still looked doubtful but was silent. The excited warrior took this as an opening. "Suki more than anything needs solid proof that a relationship with me can work. If I can show her that warriors can have a relationship and still balance their duties then she'll more than likely take a chance at it."

Toph who had been listening to the exchange with interest decided to place her two bits in. "Ok, say you do all that. And you get Suki believing it could actually work. Won't she more than likely think that you're taken? "

Sokka shook his head and grinned wolfishly. "Ah, see that's where the best part comes in. Suki _loves_ a challenge. If she sees something she wants that's taken, she'll work twice as hard just to get it back."

The trio -with the exception of Momo who was taking a nap- still looked doubtful.

"Have you even considered what Ty Lee will say to all this?" Aang asked. "Why would she help you? Sure she thought you were cute once, but that was a long time ago. What if she says no? What's your back up plan then?"

The watertribe warrior scuffed his boot across the bottom of the floor and angled his head to give a sheepish look.

Toph reading into his vibrations, pointed at him with accusation. "He hasn't told us the whole thing!"

Sokka threw up his arms into the air. "What _whole_ thing? There is no whole thing! I just already asked her is all!"

"WHAT?!" Three voices exploded at once.

"What happened to the whole '_let's let bygones be bygones_' speech huh?" Sokka scratched his beard awkwardly.

Toph clomped menacingly over toward the bumbling warrior and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. Bringing his surprised and slightly scared eyes down to her hazy ones she asked the question that had been in everyone's mind this morning.

"Are you still drunk?"

..-.:.-..

Ty Lee blinked the sleep out of her eyes as the sun filtered in through her tent and lit everything to a sunny glow. The sleepy acrobat yawned as she stood up to begin her morning stretches.

Today was the big day.

Moving day. The one time a year the circus caravaned across to the Annual Festival Celebration. Everyone would be waking up soon, to begin their packing and to help with the enormous task of bringing down the big top.

It was going to be so much fun!

As Ty Lee stretched slowly into an awkward pretzel, she felt as if she should be remembering something. Something important. Now what was it? She knew she should've written herself a note last night...

Did she have to take Jingo the Platypus Bear out of his outfit today? No. That wasn't it... It had something to do with Ba Sing Se.

Ty Lee's brows puckered together as she searched her mind for the answer. A minute into it her stomach gave a loud growl, notifying her that breakfast was long overdue. Finishing up the last of her stretches she mentally shrugged the matter off. It was too early for hard thinking anyway. She would save that for later when all the excitement of the day was over...If she remembered to remember that is. For now...she would make her way over to the cheery yellow tents and help with making breakfast for the whole circus troupe.

Ty Lee sighed contentedly while she plaited her ponytail into her signature long braid. There was still that little bothersome twinge in the back of her mind that told her there was something else to be excited about... Oh Well! Duty Called!

The forgetful acrobat skipped off to the yellow tents, blissfully ignorant about the inquisition that was waiting for her when she got there.

Ty Lee's stomach growled again as she smelled the beckoning aroma wafting out from inside the tent. It was a nice gentle aroma, that enticed you to come into the tents and order food. But upon entering the tent, the nice gentle smells, slapped you full in the face and made you instantly hungry whether you were or not.

The hungry acrobat pranced to the rear of the tent where a woman was busily moving around clanging pans and making alot of noise in general. She had black hair that was swept up into a tight bun, all except for her thick and chunky bangs that she huffed out of her face every now and again. Ty Lee came up and hugged her from behind, as was her morning routine. "Good morning Kahu!"

The normally jovial Kahu stiffened, and grunted out a "Your late." before shrugging out of Ty Lee's hug. Ty Lee's brows puckered together as she confusedly studyed the older womans face carefully. Yep. Kahu was pissed. "What's wrong Kahu?" Ty Lee asked cautiously.

The older woman stopped stirring what was on the stone oven and turned around slowly, wooden spatula in hand. " 'What's wrong Kahu?' Don't you give me that innocent crap! You know good and well what you did!" The wooden spoon moved around erratically as Kahu made mad gestures with it. "What do you think you were doing sneaking off last night with that guy?! You know it's strictly against circus policy to sleep around with customers!! There is no way that I can cover your ass if the ringleader starts asking questions." At this last phrase the wooden spatula which had been used to make threatening movements, burst into flames. Kahu cursed and quickly doused the flames in a bucket of water by the stove. Several other charred wooden handles stuck out of the water bucket. It appeared that this was her fourth spatula to go through today.

Ty Lee stood stunned as Kahu ranted around the kitchen. "What guy Kahu?"

Kahu's amber eyes narrowed as she read Ty Lee's facial exspressions. "The hairy looking one. With big ears."

Ty Lee's brows puckered together again as she searched her memory for a hairy looking guy with big ears. Nothing was ringing any bells.

"I signed alot of autographs last night Kahu, so I can't really remember...but I most definitely didn't sleep with someone! I would've remembered that!"

The older lady sighed, and decide to take Ty Lee at face value. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. "Oh well, it'll come to you who it was. Here stir this while you think about it." Kahu handed Ty Lee one of her spare spatulas and pushed her over to the pot that she had been stirring on the stone oven. Ty Lee wrinkled her nose at the smell coming out of the pot. "Ew! Kahu what is this stuff?!"

Kahu chuckled maliciously, "Stewed Sea Prunes. It's a delicasy that was just shipped in from the Southern Watertribe. It's said to help with stamina, and since today is moving day, we'll need everyone to have all the stamina they can get."

Ty Lee tryed to school her face back into a less grossed out look. "The Southern Watertribe huh? That's neat. I hope it tastes better than it smells!"

Three minutes later a loud squeal followed by the clanging of pans could be heard from the yellow tent.

"THE WATERTRIBE!! THAT'S IT!"

..-.:.-..

Sokka scuffed the toe of his boot through the mud outside of the circus entrance. _Where is she? _It felt like he had been waiting for her for 30 minutes or more. Maybe this was her idea of a joke.

The plan had been to meet her here before breakfast. Sokka's stomach growled. _If I knew that she was going to be this late, I should've told her that we would meet __after__ breakfast. _Sokka scowled at his thought. Dark blue eyes watched as the circus slowly came to life and started collapsing all of the smaller tents near the entrance. A few of the performers from last night gave him cursory glances as they started untying the ropes to a blue tent closest to him. He nodded at them uneasily in hello. _Well. This is awkward. _

A flash of pink weaving through the crowd of workers caught his peripheal vision. The warrior turned more fully to where he last saw the bit of pink just as Ty Lee came flying out of the crowd.

Her gray eyes widened as she skidded to a stop a couple of feet in front of him.

Ty Lee smiled as she tapped the toe of her pink shoe on the ground. "Bet you thought I wasn't going to make it huh?"

Sokka groaned as he rolled his eyes. He was beginning to wonder if maybe his plan would work after all. "It took you long enough. What did you do? Forget?"

Gray eyes widened dramatically "Wow! How did you know!?"

The watertribe warrior slapped his hand to his forehead in a move of agitation. "Lucky guess." Sokka stiffened as Ty Lee got in his personal space. It was weird having a girl other than Suki this close. Wierd and unnerving.

She seemed to be studying his beard. "You look so different with a beard! I hardly would've recognized you last night if it wasn't for your ponytail." Ty Lee grinned as she reached back and tugged on it.

Sokka felt his eyebrows lifting. "It's not called a _ponytail,_ it's called a warriors wolftail."

Ty Lee tugged on it some more. "What a cute name for a ponytail! Mine's called a _braid_." Ty Lee used th end of her braid to tickle under his nose for affect.

Sokka gave her a dubious look as he pushed her braid away from his nose. "I know." She smelled different.

This whole change thing was not working out well for him.

Suki had always smelled fresh like crushed up pine needles, Sokka had loved burying his nose in her hair. Ty Lee smelled like some exotic spice that he didn't know the name of.

The spicy smelling girl giggled at his scowl. "You don't take teasing well do you?" She gently twirled the end of her braid around her finger.

Sokka grumbled under his breath and reached up to scratch his beard.

Ty Lee cocked her head to the side as she studied him. "What was that? Nobody likes a grumbler!"

"I said that I don't take change well."

"Well then why did you grow a beard? That seems to me like it's a change..."

Sokka sputtered at her as she strectched her left leg over her head and yawned. "All watertribe men have them when they come of age! It's a sign of manli-ness! It's not that big of a change!" He fingered his beard lightly... it was getting a little scraggly now that he thought of it. "Lets just drop the beard issue and get on to why we're both here." He watched her pause in her bending exercises. "You _do _remember what we're here for don't you?" Sokka waited on her to collect her thoughts before he asked her again.

"OH! Yes! I remember why I'm here! It's to discuss help with a girl problem you had!" Ty Lee chirped out happily.

Sokka blushed scarlet as he clapped his hand over her mouth. "Shhh! You weren't supposed to tell anyone remember?! It's supposed to be a secret!"

Her gray eyes widened apolgetically as she nodded her head.

Sokka, still holding his hand over her mouth looked around the entrance of the circus to see if anybody had been listening to what had just transpired. Luckily, it appeared that the group of workers had moved inward toward the other surrounding tents away from the gate. He heard Ty Lee mumble something as he continued his perusal of the deserted circus grounds. One never could be to careful. What he had in mind for discussion was to be kept hush-hush...besides that it was just embarrassing. And what if it got back to Suki? That would be just-

Sokka yelped as something wet touched the inside of his palm. "Augh! You_ licked _me! Sokka looked incredulously at his hand. That was just nasty! Do you have any idea where your tongue has been?" He pointed dramatically at her.

Ty Lee looked cross-eyed at her tongue. "In my mouth? Well besides two months ago with Tohru who works in the-

"Ah, ah ah! That was unnecesary and vile. But that was exactly what I meant... now I've got Tohru spit on my hand!" Sokka exclaimed while wiping his offending hand on his pants.

The pink circus performer winked at him while he was examining his hand for further traces of saliva. "Don't worry! It'll wash off!"

Blue eyes squinted at her in agitation. "Let's just go somewhere where we won't be heard." Sokka took Ty Lee by the hand and drug her away from the circus entrance. "Somewhere that serves breakfast." he added on an after thought.

"But that's what I was trying to tell you before when you had your hand over my mouth! I know of a great place we can go where we won't be heard." Ty Lee smiled triumphantly up at him. She quickly reversed positions so now she was the one that dragging him.

Sokka felt himself blushing more. He found himself studying Ty Lee as she was walking. There was another difference between her and Suki. Suki had confident swaying walk that one could never hear until she was right behind you. It was a very no-nonsense sway. Sokka nodded to himself. He refocused back onto Ty Lee. Her walk was harder to describe. It was more of a graceful skip, that reminded him of a little girl. She definitely had more bounce in her step than Suki. The watertribe warrior let his thumb graze the back the pink acrobats hand. From the way she was grasping his hand he could feel callouses on her palm. Suki had never had callouses on her hands. She and the Kyoshi warriors always wore gloves with their outfit. Sokka frowned softly to himself. But before he could think more on the matter Ty Lee pulled him up on to the porch of a dilapidated looking building. Everything in Kuson looked dilapidated.

Sokka blinked his eyes as his vision adjusted to the dim enterior of the restaurant. The inside looked surprisingly better than the outside did. Ty Lee pulled him over to a table off in the corner away from all the noise. Taking a seat facing opposite from him Ty Lee watched him with interest as he pulled out his own chair and sat down. Just as soon as Sokka got settled in Ty Lee started to bombard him with her first question. "So, what's this plan of yours?"

Sokka struck an intelligent looking pose and stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well the main idea is to make Suki jealous of you, so she'll come back to me." He scratched his beard sheepishly "And that's as far as I've gotten."

Ty Lee bit her lip and looked thoughtful. "Do you know how you-we're going to make her jealous?"

Sokka made a motion with his index finger before stopping and scratching his wolftail. "I haven't thought that out completely either. I was kinda hoping that you being a girl could help me from that perspective."

Ty Lee grinned mischievously. "Well, I am a girl!"

Sokka looked like he was about to slap himself in the face again when a cranky looking older woman shuffled up to the table with a pad of paper and a very worn out looking calligraphy brush.

"What's your order? Special this morning is lobster-crab just brought in off the boats for nine copper peices." Her voice sounded gravelly as if she didn't use it very often.

Sokka wrinkled his nose at the thought of having seafood this early in the morning but beggars can't be choosers. "Sure that's fine, so long as it's fresh." He eyed the woman suspicously.

The haggard looking old lady seemed not to care as she licked her thumb and forefinger so she could dampen her old calligraphy brush. After she sloppily painted out the order she shuffled off back to the kitchen.

Sokka returned his attention back to the table where Ty Lee was busy folding a paper flower out of her napkin. "So have you thought of anything?"

Ty Lee twirled the paper flower exspeirmentally in her hand. "Well... did you have anything or do anything that drove her up the wall?"

The warrior thought for a moment. The only thing that he remembered that really drove Suki crazy was his beard. Whenever she would kiss him it would always scratch at her face and give her a nice little raspy spot later. She _hated_ his beard. But that's the one thing that Sokka would never give up. His father had one, and all the men in his tribe had one! Well not all the men in his tribe...but how was Suki to know the difference right? Besides that... it made him look manly and intelligent. What was there not to like?

Sokka sighed as he fingered his scraggly beard. "She hated my beard. She was always after me to shave it because it scratched her skin." He made a face.

Ty Lee giggled at him. "It just looks pretty ticklish to me." She reached up and twirled her finger around his beard playfully. Sokka felt himself blushing... he wasn't used to all this public display of affection. He had never really been comfortable with Suki being affectionate in public either to tell the truth.

"But if Suki didn't like it, and you would never shave it for her...then it would probably work best for you to get rid of it...no matter how cute it makes you look."

Sokka felt himself sputtering again. "But it's intelligent and manly!"

Ty Lee bit her lip to keep from giggling at him. "It's for a good cause though, right? "

Before Sokka could utter another whine, the cranky looking waitress came back with his lobster-crab on an old and battered looking metal plate. After dipositing it with a clang on the table she shuffled back to the kitchen again.

Peeling back the protective shell around the claw and taking a healthy bite, Sokka looked up at Ty Lee again with a new sense of purpose. "Alright, the beard goes. Anything else we need to shave off?"

Ty Lee looked thoughtful as she studied his face. "Maybe we could take your hair down?"

Bright blue eyes widened in horror. "My wolftail too?"

The acrobat in pink nodded as solenmly as she could. "We're going for shock and awe here."

With a sigh the forlorn warrior reached up to undue the tie to his wolftail. It felt funny to have his hair down. This was going to take alot of getting used to. "How do I look?" Sokka tried not to huff it out of his face.

Ty Lee turned her head this way and that taking in all angles of Sokka's face. "Well, I'm sad to say that you still look just as cute with it down as you did with it up." She added a wink for good measure.

Sokka let out the breath he didn't know that he'd been holding, and tried not to seem to pleased with himself. To cover up his lack of modesty he dug into his lobster-crab again.

After he got finished with the main portion of it he looked back up at Ty Lee again. She seemed to be watching him while he was eating.

_Awkward._

"There's one last thing that we need to do to make the whole ruse work." Sokka added.

Ty Lee reached over to his plate and picked up some meat that Sokka had left behind. "What's that?" She asked as she popped the peice of lobster-crab into her mouth. "Mmm! This is really good!"

The warrior watched the girl as she reached over again and picked out some more meat. "Well," he moved his plate over toward her, "We need to be engaged." Sokka watched as this peice of information settled in.

Ty Lee popped another piece of lobster-crab into her mouth. Then her gray eyes widened as she jerked her head back up to Sokka. "Excuse me?"

Sokka took this as his cue to continue on. "The only way Suki will come back to me, is if she sees that it can work between another warrior couple."

Ty Lee went back to Sokka's lobster-crab.

"We need an engagement necklace though, do you think we could find one around here?" Sokka paused and looked around the hole in the wall restaurant. "Forget I asked."

"Well, maybe we can find a _good _merchant ship or something down at the docks."

The pink acrobat pushed the clangy metal plate toward the middle of the table again as Sokka continued his theories on an engagement necklace. "-it would take too long to start carving." He was saying.

Ty Lee felt herself studying his face again..._Will he still look the same underneath that beard?_ She let her gaze travel downward to his neck. Without thinking Ty Lee pointed to his neck.

"What about that?"

Blue eyes looked at her curiously as he followed her finger. "Oh! My choker?" It was a gift that his father and mother had made him when he was a child. His choker was a specially crafted whale bone that his father and his hunting party had caught several years ago.

"Hey, yeah! This could work! All we would need to do is carve a charm for it, and I can do that while we're traveling to Ba Sing Se." Sokka's eyes were excited as he looked across the table at Ty Lee.

"Now all we have to do is load up on Appa and head to Ba Sing Se!"

Ty Lee chuckled nervously as she tapped the toe of her slipper on the floor. "That's where it get's complicated."

"What do you mean complicated? Complicated how?" Sokka asked apprehensively.

"Well technically...I'm not allowed to be engaged until I'm out of the circus... they have me under a contract you know..." Ty Lee poked her fingertips together awkwardly. "The only way I could possibly be engaged is if the 'proposer' is in the circus too." She laughed anxiously.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone don't you?"

To Be Continued.

A/N : Please review! The next chapter I'll try to add in some Tykka fluff. We all know that's what everyone's waiting for right? Sorry it took so long! I had a Graduation to deal with. (: Did I mention please review?


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